SOUNDTRACK: BELLE AND SEBASTIAN-“Pocketbook Angel” (1994).
It’s not often that you get to hear a pretty complete story about how an early (unreleased) song was made. “Pocket Book Angel” is a song that Stuart Murdoch wrote when he was signed on for a class about music production. Stuart David was in the same class and so he was there when they recorded this song.
Stuart David describes the origins and recording process:
The song we recorded was called “Pocket Book Angels” something Stuart had written a few days earlier while he was busking on Ashton lane. It was all about busking on Ashton Lane. Almost everyone who was around that day [in the Beatbox recording studio where the classes were held] played something on it. I played bass, Gerry Campbell, the songwriting tutor played drums, “London” a Pink Floyd addict played lead guitar, soloing wherever he could find the tiniest gap to fill. It was a great pop song, probably all but beaten to death by having instrument after instrument overdubbed on it… But Stuart just let the arrangement develop out of the loose parts everyone played. [Unlike later songs when he was very particular], he didn’t have any overall vision for how he wanted the recording to turn out, and it was a haphazard collaboration.
One evening I let my dad hear the finished recording and he said, “You should stick with that band. I like that. they’ll go places.”
“It’s not really a band,” I told him. “It was just a one-off thing.”
“They’ll go far,” he said. “Stick with them them.”
It is pretty impressive that Stuart Murdoch made this song pretty quickly and had it fleshed out into a recordable idea. Sure, this song sounds like it was recorded on a tape player, but the song is super catchy.
[READ: January 23, 2021] In the All-Night Café
Every time I read a non-fiction book about music, I feel compelled to say that I don’t read a lot of non-fiction books about music. Given the number of bands that I like, the number of books I read about music is fairly low. Indeed, most bands that I really like I don’t care that much about their history or what they have to say.
But I enjoyed Stuard David’s novel and I imagined that his take on the formation of Belle & Sebastian would be pretty interesting. Because they are from Scotland and are a low-key band to begin with. Plus Stuart David isn’t the “main” guy (and isn’t even in the band anymore), but he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would write a mean-spirited book either.
And their origin story is really fascinating.
But this book isn’t just about the band. It’s about Stuart David’s life in his mid-twenties in Scotland. It’s also about what it was like to be young in a country that didn’t have a lot if opportunity for youth. It’s also about music and is even about love.
Stuart David had been writing songs and playing music for a while. He had been trying to find a bassist for his band Raglin Street Rattle. There were plenty of good guitarists but not so many bassists. So in 1994 he decided that he should learn the bass.
One of the fascinating things about this book is reading about the life of an unemployed twenty something in Scotland in the 90s. Stuart David had been getting unemployment benefits of £46 a week. Then the government herded anyone who had been claiming benefits for over a year into a program–they would have to either get a job or do training for jobs. If they signed on they would get some extra money on top of their monthly payment. Stuart David’s friend and drummer David (you see why I used his full name) used to sign up for University experiments to make some extra money (!) He even managed to go to America with the cash (what kind of experiments?). But Stuart David didn’t want to go that route.
They training opportunities were terrible and nothing that he wanted until he saw a late addition–a seminar in pop music–something vaguely about production and songwriting. He was in! Much of the first section talk about this program. The long and short of it is that the people who were running the program were a local band looking to make money from the government. So they offered up their studio (Beatbox Studio) but also used the studio for their own project. The more people who took the course, the more money they got. So they overbooked and basically had most of the students just hanging around while they recorded their own project. It was easy “work” but also frustrating.
Stuart David met Stuart Murdoch there (see why I use his full name). Murdoch was suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome and could do very little beyond write music. Stuart David also met another guy, Alastair. Alastair was older and had some connections. He asked both Stuarts to play with him (and wanted to show them his S&M dungeon (!). And so Stuart David was now in two bands: Raglin Street Rattle and Lisa Helps the Blind (that sure sounds like a Stuart Murdoch name!). The Raglan Street band practiced a lot and tok things slowly but Alastair didn’t want to wait, so he booked them open mic nights and found other gigs–none of which really worked out.
Eventually Beatbox Studios did offer the students recording time. Raglan Street Rattle recorded some songs and then Stuart Murdoch recorded four: “Dog on Wheels,” “String Bean Jean,” “The State I’m In” and “Belle and Sebastian.” These recordings were eventually released as the Dog on Wheels EP. Not bad for a student project.
As Stuart Murdoch gained more confidence with his songs (and Stuart David admits his jealousy at Murdoch’s talent) he decided to call his project Rhode Island (no explanation given).
Then there was a fascinating development,. At Stow College, students were doing a music production and distribution class. Their assignment was to find a local unsigned band and to produce and market a single and then to book a release party show. The Rhode Island tape had made it to the students and they loved it.
The two Stuarts went to the school to talk about things and the teacher told them that they had five days in the recording studio. They’d record and mix 2 songs and release them as a single. But Stuart Murdoch had other ideas–he said they could do an entire album in that time. Murdoch was so convincing that they went ahead with this idea.
The band were able to go to a proper studio (so much nicer than Beatbox where they managed to record and mix Tigermilk in five days.
In that time they had added Stevie Jackson on guitar, Chris Geddes on keys as well as Isobel Campbell on cello.
They continued to look for places to play and wound up playing a massive house party (the whole story about is is very funny) in Stuart David’s apartment. The stories about Stuart David’s apartment with seven or eight other young people are pretty amazing–like an extended college life.
The final chapter is about making Tigermilk. Normally recording studio stores are pretty dull, but the band’s naivete and glee at being there makes up for it. As does the fact that they recorded it so quickly–not a lot of down time to write about.
There’s a brief aside about their terrible trip to France for a gig–an utter disaster–contrasted with their very successful album release party. They also talk about their insane meeting with Seymour Stein and the debauched dinner they had together.
The book ends with the Tigermilk release party at Cava Studios where they had recorded the album. The walls were lined with the vinyl of Tigermilk and everyone there got a copy. Stuart David talks about how after the set people were throwing these albums around like frisbees. A few months later some were sold online for £850.
The amazing things is that by the time they had the album release party, Murdoch had already written most of the songs for If You’re Feeling Sinister and with the success of the Tigermilk release they were all ready to start recording album two (just four months later).
There’s also a fun little bit about Stuart David writing to his friend Karn. They met through a mutual friend and become pen pals. They wrote to each other for over 7 years! They did eventually marry (after the time in this book). What a sweet story.
Despite the success of the band, this book really works more as a cautionary tale–about all of the musicians who didn’t make it–even those who worked much harder than they did.
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